Memorial Day 2020

[Today’s article was written by Col. Douglas Castle (Ret.), a former Army Chaplain, who was a member of my church in Colorado Springs.]

Jesus said, “The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends.” Today, we pay tribute to service members who gifted us their ultimate sacrifice and their greatest love. 

America, unique in the history of nations, was born of an idea, liberty, that is forever woven throughout the fabric of our constitution. Therefore, our warriors have always been willing to sacrifice their lives for this cause they hold greater than self. They instinctively understood that, to secure the blessings of liberty, a free people are obliged to pay the market price of that liberty. Liberty ruthlessly collects that payment in the blood of America’s sons and daughters, yet those who fell willingly accepted that transaction.

At Gettysburg, Lincoln reminded his generation that the greatest tribute a people could pay to their fallen was to embrace the unresolved future: “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the great task remaining before us…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

We who follow Jesus, we who are dual citizens of both heaven and earth, must embrace that unresolved future and ensure those we commemorate will not have died in vain by giving ourselves to fervent prayer for the church’s greatest awakening – a revival that will vindicate their sacrifice and forever alter the course of human history.

“Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:3-4; NIV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

  • Tell the Lord how thankful you are for the selfless service so many in this nation displayed through their sacrificial death. 
  • Ask the Lord to heal the broken hearts of those still living who have lost loved ones. The pain can be intense. 
  • Lives are forever completely altered for the living when someone dies. Pray for restored hope.
  • Decide to ensure those we commemorate today will not have died in vain. Let us give ourselves to fervent prayer for the church’s greatest awakening – a revival that will vindicate their sacrifice and forever alter the course of human history!

A prayer you can pray:

Lord God, today, on Memorial Day, we pause to say “Thank you” for the selfless service so many in this nation displayed through their sacrificial death. We ask that you would heal the hearts of all those families who stood weeping at their front door when told their loved one would never again walk through that door. Jesus, you are the light of this world and we ask that, as you heal these broken hearts, you would reignite the flame of hope that died in so many eyes.

In the midst of one of the greatest economic crises in our history, as churches cannot meet to worship you or celebrate biblical fellowship, we ask for your help. May God the Holy Spirit rise up strongly in this nation to stir the church to her greatest awakening, and may she rise up more holy, beautiful and powerful than ever before! Thank You, Jesus. Amen.

Today’s decree:

We are thankful for all those who died that we might be free!